Dr Bent Juel-Jensen, 11 November 1922 - 20 December 2006

As his middle name implies, Dr Bent Einer Juel-Jensen was a 'One-Off''- a truly remarkable man, who has been described by one writer as a Polymath - collector, bibliophile, linguist and physician: and who is recorded on the commemorative marble slab in the Bodleian Library in Oxford as Benedictus Juel-Jensen.Bent was born In Odense Denmark, and lived there throughout the Second World War. He graduated in medicine at Copenhagen and saw service for two years in the Danish navy. He did not come to England until1949, and was forced to take further undergraduate training in Oxford until gaining his BM in 1953. His DM followed in 1972.

Perhaps it was because of his different perspective in age and place but Bent clearly saw a need that he felt he could meet. The provision of student health care in the ancient universities of Oxbridge is complicated by the sturdy independence of each college. But the unifying effect of the medical school at the Radcliffe allowed Bent an opening and he served as Medical Officer to the Medical School 1960-1977 and then as the Medical Officer for the whole university 1976-1990. He was a true academic who saw endless possibilities for research in his day-to-day work.

The British Student Health Association provided a good link with similar workers in Great Britain and Ireland. But typically Bent went further than anyone else. In 1962-3 he took a Rockefeller travelling fellowship to Harvard to study student health provision in USA.

The American Colleges Health Association Fellows organization was established in 1967 to recognize those members who have given outstanding service to the association and have demonstrated superior professional stature and performance in the college health field. Members who have earned fellowship in the association are as follows. It will come as no surprise that Bent Juel-Jensen is on that hallowed list.

One of the great traditions of both Oxford and Cambridge universities was the dispatch of expeditions to exotic destinations around the world. By trial and error a great deal of skill was amassed in both the preventive and therapeutic fields of health care for these travellers. One of Bent's many pieces of writing was "Expeditions Medicine" (1986). In 1973 Bent went to Ethiopia for the first time; this led to another huge number of experiences and challenges that could have filled a whole lifetime for a lesser being.

It was in that same year 1973 that Bent Juel-Jensen became President of the BSHA at its annual conference - held in Cambridge that year and hosted by Dr. Hawtrey May, another expert in expedition medicine. This was the year when the old order was ousted and a new modern management structure was introduced. Dr. John Munro (Durham) was appointed as the first Chairman. It was the first BSHA conference for Dr. Ronnie Siler (Edinburgh) and he was heard rather wistfully to remark that he "had never seen before so many eccentrics in one room at the same time". It is said that it takes one to know one, and this may well have been true on this occasion; but Bent's deviations from the normal were all on the plus side of good - truly a one-off.   [Robin Harland]

Jimmy leaves his wife, Beth, four children and five grandchildren.